What we find in the book of Malachi is the prophet of God indicting the people of God for their violation of the covenant of God. Specifically, in chapter 1, beginning in verse 6, all the way to chapter 2 and verse 9, we have a unit. Specifically, it is a condemnation of the priesthood. But our subject tonight will focus on worship, their abuse with reference to the public worship of the living and true God.
That is in chapter 1, verses 6 to 14. So we want to consider tonight the necessity of acceptable worship. As I mentioned this morning, worship is the highest privilege that a creature can engage in. It is the reason for which God made us.
He made man upright. We were to worship Him. Adam was to function as a prophet and a priest and a king over creation so that he could commune with God. extend the garden temple of God to create more worshippers, so that the world would be filled with the knowledge of God, and that God would be glorified. But because of sin, because of our apostasy, because of our defection, we have not worshipped as we ought.
So in redemption, God comes to save us from our sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He does so to make us worshippers. So public worship is a very crucial aspect of the Christian life. And that's what we will consider tonight. Let's just read the chapter and set it in its context.
Beginning in verse 1 of Malachi chapter 1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us?
Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has said, we have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus says the Lord of hosts.
They may build, but I will throw down. They shall be called the territory of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. A son honors his father, and a servant his master.
If then I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name. Yet you say, In what way have we despised your name?
You offer defiled food on my altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying, the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? But now entreat God's favor, that he may be gracious to us, While this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts?
Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering.
For my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled, and its food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick.
Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations.
Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for giving us this information so that we may hopefully conduct ourselves aright in the public place. We ask our Father that you would guide us by your Holy Spirit, that you would help us to learn the lessons of Scripture.
God, may these things be an encouragement and may they indeed be a help to us as a local church. We thank you for the coming of another year. We pray that you would bless this church with peace. We ask that you would bless this church with unity.
We ask that you would bless this church with conversions. We pray that sinners would come among us and that you would be well pleased to bless the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of souls. And as well, God, may it be the case that each and every one in this church would grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And it's in His name that we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
So as I said, Malachi is post-exilic. He operates, or he came after Haggai and Zechariah, not just in terms of the structure of the Old Testament canon here in the English Bible, but date-wise. He prophesied probably between 433 and 425, just to give you a bit of a background. Ezra is one of the men who returned to Judah.
He went back in about 458 BC and then Nehemiah in 445 BC. When you compare Malachi with those books of Ezra and Nehemiah, you see many of the same sorts of abuses being dealt with. There was marriage with pagans that was condemned in the book of Nehemiah. You see the same thing here in chapter 2.
You see violations in terms of tithing. Malachi speaks to that in chapter 3, as do Ezra and Nehemiah. So this was, or they were contemporaries by not just a few years, more than a few years, but nevertheless, that's the time frame that we are in, in this book of Malachi. So as we consider the necessity of acceptable worship, I want to look at three sections in this chapter.
First, the accusation by God. Secondly, the response of the people. And then thirdly, we'll draw out some implications or some facts concerning unacceptable worship, as it is portrayed here. And what Malachi does, he functions sort of like an attorney.
Now, many of the prophets do this. They sue the people of God. God is angry with the nation of Israel. They have violated the covenant.
So God raises up a prophet. He sends the prophet. And the prophet functions similarly to a prosecuting attorney. He comes in the name of God.
He comes with the authority of God. And he brings accusation and indictment to bear upon the people of God. And there is a recurring pattern here in the prophet Malachi. He gives this assertion of what they had done, and then the people give this sort of questioning response, as if they're surprised at the suggestion that they had not been living as they ought.
We'll see that as we move through our passage tonight.
God's Accusation
But note first the accusation by God, and there's four things to consider here.
Failure to Honor God as God
The first is that the people of Israel failed to honor God as God. This is the fundamental problem with mankind. In Romans chapter 1, when the apostle indicts man for having knowledge about God, but suppressing that knowledge or truth in unrighteousness, Paul summarizes by saying, who although they knew God, they did not honor God, nor were their hearts thankful. We expect that from the heathen.
We expect that from the pagan. It's not right. We don't justify it. But the covenant nation, the covenant people of God know better.
The Lord God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. The Lord God had chastened them, to be sure, sending them into exile in Babylon. But God brought them out of that. God promises and promises and promises good things to His covenant people.
And yet, instead of esteeming Him, instead of praising Him, instead of honoring and glorifying Him, look at what He says in verse 6. He says, A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence?
That is a very easy analogy to try and put our minds around. A son honors his father, or sons should honor their fathers, and servants honor their masters, or servants should honor their masters. So God then draws the necessary implication. If sons do this for fathers, if servants do this for masters, where then is my honor, says the Lord?
The people of God, instead of honoring, praising, glorifying, worshiping and adoring Him, had not done that whatsoever. And we need to see that God sees this. God knows the heart. God knows what's happening when we come to the public place.
God knows if we are seeking His honor, if we are seeking His glory, or if we're in it for some other reason. Are we simply here to satisfy requirements? Are we simply here because this is what we're supposed to do? Are we simply here because if I don't go, my mom or dad will give me a good licking with the bell?
We need to come to honor the Lord Most High. You see, we owe Him this not only by virtue of creation, The creature owes honor to the Creator. But by virtue of redemption, we are new men and new women in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus lived in obedience to the law that we could never do.
The Lord Jesus went to the cross on our behalf, something that we could never do. The Lord Jesus satisfied divine justice through His punishment. And we are the benefactors of that reality. So certainly when we come here, it isn't simply to see one another and encourage one another, though that is a part of the blessing of being in church.
The primary element and the primary responsibility on the Lord's Day is to praise the Lord of the day. It isn't our day, it isn't our house, it's God's house, it's God's day, and therefore we bring honor and glory and honor to Him. To you priests, notice what he says at the end of verse 6, who despise my name. Notice, as well, they had perverted sacrifice.
Remember I said that the people asked the question, that they're shocked, they're surprised, they're put off. But what do you mean, me? Look at the end of verse 6. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name?
You see, they were going through the motions, they were going to the right place, they were bringing the right items, they were going through the right ceremony, but they were not doing so with the heart. They were not doing so with a view to the worship of God. And when God calls them on it, they say it, in what way have we despised your name? In short, they said, who, us?
Me? Are you kidding? Of course I'm doing the right thing. And then God tells them what it is that he has been offended by.
Perversion of Sacrifice
Note the perversion of sacrifice. Verses 7 and 8. You offer defiled food on my altar. But say, in what way have we defiled you?
By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? They bring defiled food, blind sacrifice, lame and sick sacrifice. The table is defiled.
Leviticus 22 very well specifies that defective animals were not to be offered as a sacrifice. You got to kind of put yourself in their shoes for just a moment. Imagine you're a worshipper. Imagine it's the day to go to the temple.
Imagine you need to bring an animal. You know what they do when you get there with that animal. You lay your hands on its head, they cut the throat, and then they offer it up to the Lord God. So you're getting ready on a Sabbath morning, and you're looking at your flock, and you're seeing the best, you're seeing the choicest, you're seeing the most wonderful animals, and you walk right past them to find the blind one. to find the lame one, to find the sick one, because you're going to pull that with you on the way to the temple, and you're going to give that to God.
What does that reflect about God? It says about God that He is not worthy of the best. He doesn't deserve the best. I am not going to give Him the best because the best will bring me more happiness.
It'll fetch me more money at market. It'll fetch me better food on my table. You see, it was all about them and it wasn't about God. A son honors his father, a servant honors his master.
If I'm a father, if I'm a master, where is my honor? You bring the worst of the animals, you trot them into the temple, you lay your hands on them, you cut their throats, you go through the motions, but your heart is wrong. This is not sacrifice, brethren. If you are not giving to the point where it actually deprives you of something, it's not sacrifice.
Remember, Jesus commended the widow in her might. Why? Because the men were giving out of their abundance. She was giving to the point where it hurt.
These people weren't doing that. These people were perverting the sacrificial system. Note God's challenge in verse 8. He says, And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts." In other words, just imagine for a moment that for Revenue Canada you get stuck with a bill in March or April. I mean, I'm not hoping that on anyone.
I hope that you get just the opposite, you get a nice big refund. But imagine for a moment, Revenue Canada sticks you with a bill. And just imagine that we pay with animals. Look at what God says.
The Persians were the world empire at this particular time. Offer it then to the Persian governor. Send him a lamed animal. Send him a sick animal.
Send him, you know, the loser in a battle on the farmyard. Send him the three-legged beast. Is he going to be pleased? Is he going to say you've paid your debt?
Is he going to say you have rendered what is acceptable to Revenue Canada? Absolutely not! You see, we have specific guidelines when it comes to dealing with equals. But when it comes to dealing with God, we'll pare off the edges, we'll cut the corners, we'll shave off money, and we'll shave off time.
Because after all, God is forgiving, and He's gracious, and He's kind. But He's not forgiving, gracious, and kind so that we'll abuse those attributes. So that will pervert the structure that he has put into place. Offer it to your governor.
Would he be pleased with you? And notice as well in verse 8 what he says. Is it not evil? Is it not evil?
It's not a small thing that we're dealing with. This is specifically an abuse with reference to worship. I wonder how many of us would be so prone to just discount acts of theft. acts of murder, acts of adultery, and say, well, you know, it's not that big of a deal. And yet, when it comes to perverting the worship of God, it's not that big of a deal.
Well, Malachi 1 challenges that mindset. Malachi 1 says it is a big deal. It is to despise the name of God. It is to engage in evil.
Careless or unacceptable worship is not pleasing in the sight of God.
Boredom and Contempt in Worship
Notice what else the Lord accuses them with. They are bored in worship. Notice in verse 13. Well, verse 12.
But you profane it in that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled, and its food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. Now, I'm not going to say this is the most exciting church on the face of the earth.
But I would like to ask, why in the world is it excitement that we're shopping for in church life? I went to that church and it was boring. I don't even know how to process that sometimes. You don't go to church for thrills the way you jump off a cliff with a bungee cord wrapped around your foot.
Skydiving is thrilling and exhilarating. Deep sea fishing in a storm when you're about to fall off the boat, thrilling and exhilarating. The worship of the triune God is not those things. I personally think there is thrill and there is exhilaration in singing Psalm 110 to our great God.
I personally find it very exhilarating to go through the hymns that we have in our Trinity Hymnal. And I personally find it very exhilarating to go to the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. But how is it that we're gauging what is thrilling and exciting? It's unfortunate that some churches play to this particular thing.
I saw something last year. The pastor rappelled in on a rope I guarantee you that will never happen here. Unless Pastor Cam wants to take that up, I am deathly afraid of heights and it won't happen. Unless I fell off and I happen to have a bungee wrapped around my leg.
When did this become worship? When did jugglers up front become worship? When did this happen, brethren? And why is it our exhilaration and our thrill the mark of what matters.
Look at what the people said. You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. Consider the typical worship experience of the Israelite in this particular context. They'd wake up on Sabbath morning, they'd collect their animal, they'd walk to the house of the Lord, hopefully singing Psalm 122, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord.
They went there, they laid their hand on the animal, they stroked the animal, they cut the animal's neck, they bled it out, the animal was sacrificed, they got a portion to eat, they praised, they worshipped, they glorified God. They didn't come in on helicopters, they didn't come in playing paintball, they didn't come in repelling from wires. You see, even this, for them, was a weariness. What a weariness!
I can't be bothered. Church is too boring. It's not exciting enough. It's not thrilling enough.
It doesn't satisfy me enough. Now, something interesting. We always are looking for what we get out of something. Does it ever occur to us that on a Sunday morning, it might be the case that our presence at church may encourage someone else My presence in church might be a boon or a benefit or a help to someone who is in need?
Is the question that we ask when we fall out of bed on a Sunday morning is, what am I going to get out of this today? You know, I've quoted it before, John F. Kennedy. I'm not necessarily endorsing his political stance, but he made that good statement.
I don't know if it was unique to him or if he had a speechwriter, but it fits. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. We live in a narcissistic age, a me-centered age, an age that focuses primarily upon my benefit. And it carries into the church.
People are consumers when it comes to church life. They have a clean nursery. They have puppet shows. They have ponies.
They have helicopter rides. They have rappelling. They have a rock wall up in the fellowship hall. Well, they don't even call it a fellowship hall because that's a throwback to when people actually fellowshiped.
It's exciting! No, we are called by Jesus in John 4, 24 to worship God in spirit and truth. It is truth that must guide our worship. It is the Holy Spirit, not the repelling spirit, not the thrilling spirit, but the Holy Spirit that brings about the worship experience.
And woe to us if we are bored with God and we express it, maybe not verbally, I doubt anybody would be this bold to say, oh, what a weariness. I mean, actually, that's probably not true. I don't want to go there. It's pretty boring.
Oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And then notice what it goes on to say in verse 13. And you bring the stolen, the lame and the sick.
Thus, you bring an offering. I mean, that that's in the Bible ought to make us all hang our head in shame at this point. I mean, the sick, you know what? I'm a wicked man.
I have remaining corruption. I'm not going to say I wouldn't be tempted. You know, if there was a beast that would fetch me more money at the market, I wonder. I hope I wouldn't do it, but I might bypass that one to go to another.
But did someone would steal the sacrifice? that somebody would take another person's animal and offer it up as their own? I mean, as a general rule, if you're stealing a sacrifice, you've hit rock bottom. You probably can't get worse. You are probably bottomed out with the bad.
Stealing someone else's and offering it up as their own to God. As if God's not going to know what you've done, as if God's not going to be concerned with what you've done, as if God is just going to say, hey, you did a good job, at least you stole the one that wasn't sick. At least you took one that wasn't lame. At least the one you stole has both eyes good on you.
That'll never happen, brethren, because it is to prostitute the sacrificial system, to steal something and offer it up as one's own, and then have the God to call it sacrifice? Not only did that not cost you anything, but you committed a felony in order to perpetrate this particular act of religious worship. It's really an amazing situation. And then notice, in terms of accusation,
God's Curse on the Deceiver
God pronounces a curse upon them. Verse 14, But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. Why? For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations.
You see, this ought to drive worship. This ought to be what we think about concerning worship. It ought not to be, what is the bare minimum I can do to get away with this? The driving force ought to be the consideration that God is a great King, that God is majestic, that He is infinite, that He is eternal, that He is unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, that He is the one that Isaiah saw on the year that King Uzziah died, the Lord high, lofty, His robe filling the temple itself, the seraphim crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.
It is because God is a great King, it is because God is who He says He is, this ought to affect us as we come into the public place to worship our great God. This is the consideration that must fill our minds. So there's accusation.
The People's Response
Notice, secondly, the response by the people. They're just amazed. How have we dishonored you, 6B? In what way have we despised your name?
What have we done? What's the matter? We've gone through the motions. We've done what you've called us to do.
We have engaged in the forms. You see, it's not simply the forms. Now, having said that, we don't throw forms out. Our confession, the Reformed confessions, speak of the elements of worship.
Those things commanded by God. Those are forms. Those are things we must do. We must sing the Bible.
We must pray the Bible. We must preach the Bible. We must see the Bible in the sacraments. Those are things that are commanded by God.
We do not dispense with the forms, but we do not rely on the forms to the neglect of the heart. We need former element with the heart engaged, understanding who God is, coming before Him as a son before His Father and a servant before His Master, underscoring the great reality that He is God and we're not. He is our Creator and we are the creature. He is our Redeemer and we are the redeemed.
So brethren, it is important that we have the elements in place, but it is important that we bring the heart to the elements so that we do not say, how have we dishonored you? Notice secondly, they ask, how have we perverted sacrifice? 7b. Just amazing. People can be in sin and not really even know it.
People can be in sin, going through the motions, and if Malachi the prophet had not come, guess what's going to happen? They would perpetuate this heartless engagement in the form. They would perpetuate this madness, taking lame, taking sick, taking blind, and even taking animals from their neighbor, and bringing them to God, and somehow think that they were worshipping Him. Somehow think that they were doing service to God. somehow think that this was acceptable worship.
I wonder if at times we don't fall prey to this. We go to church because we have to. We go to church because we must. We go to church because that's what we're supposed to do.
But we don't pray to God, Lord, give me the heart so that I desire to be there. You know, it's simply not the case that God made some people really disciplined and really faithful and everybody else has to work at it. This morning, I mentioned, read your Bible. There's not a class of people that God just put the seal of approval on and said, you're going to be the exemplary Bible readers.
No, they work hard. They get up early. They deny themselves. They seek to be faithful, not just for one week.
Not just for one year, but for 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 years. The longer I live, and the longer I'm a Christian, certainly the longer I'm a pastor, it's faithfulness in the small things. You want the key to the Christian life? Faithfulness.
Faithfulness. Faithfulness. In case you missed it, faithfulness. Read your Bible, and pray, and go to church.
But I want to be a super-duper Christian. Read your Bible, pray, and go to church. I want to do things for Jesus. Read your Bible, pray, and go to church.
I want to be used by God. Guess what? Read your Bible, pray, and go to church. And do that for the rest of your life until you drop dead.
That's the key to the Christian life. There's no key, brethren. It's just doing what God says to do each and every day. The Lord's Day comes along.
There's not a class of people that God put the whammy on. And they wake up at 6 to bluebirds turning down their beds and wafting them out and bringing them to the coffee and bringing them to the church so that they come with joy and thanksgiving into the house of God. No, they fall out of bed and they say, Lord God Almighty, I feel about as spiritual as a fish. Lord, revive my spirit.
Put the fear of God in my heart. Fill me with Your Spirit and put gladness in my heart so that when I go to the house of God, it's not a sham. Brethren, that's what it takes, faithfulness. You feel cold.
You don't feel like going to worship. You know what the devil's answer is? Well, then don't go to worship. I don't feel like going to worship." Well, then just lay back down on the couch and put the sports on.
The devil will be right there for you. When you don't feel like it, guess where you ought to be? A thousand more times is in the house of God. I don't feel like reading my Bible on a Thursday morning.
Read your Bible and pray to God, help me to want to do this. You see, there's not a few people out there that have just been zapped with all of this blessing. Anybody who is growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus is faithful in the little things. They're faithful over time.
They're faithful by the grace of God to the very end. And along the line in their faithfulness, they have cold, hard, dry hearts. They have the spiritual sensitivity of a frog. And yet they cry out to God, help me.
Grant me grace. Melt my spirit. Cause me to go with a glad heart. When I come into the house of God, let me praise your holy name.
And then, this again, it's just so symptomatic of us. This is why I love the Old Testament. Because it's so much like us. Look at verse 9.
In the midst of all this, in the midst of bringing the lame, the maimed, the sick, the wounded, the sore, the blind, and the stolen, going through defiling God, perverting the sacrificial system, holding in content the sacrificial altar, engaging in evil, doing things we wouldn't even do to the Persian governor. Here's what we say in verse 9, But now entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us. I think this is the prophet speaking on behalf of the people. This is what they're saying in the midst of this calamity.
Not only do they not see their sin, but in the midst of all this, they're holding out their hands saying, Bless us, Lord. Give to us, Lord. Malachi, entreat the Lord's favor so He just causes good things to happen. Now, entreat God's favor that He may be gracious to us.
And now, here's where the prophet kicks in. While this is being done by your hands, will He accept you favorably? Do you actually think you can say, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord, while you steal a sacrifice and trot it to the house of God and offer it up to God? Do you think in the midst or in the matrix of that sort of a sacrificial or religious life, God's going to say, I'm so pleased with this worshiper, I am just going to pour blessings out upon his head?
No. Now entreat God's favor that He may be gracious to us. Entreat God's favor that He may prosper us. Entreat God's favor so that He may continue to prosper us.
The prophet says, while this is being done by your hands, will He accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts.
Implications of Unacceptable Worship
Well, that brings us thirdly to consider some facts or some implications concerning unacceptable worship.
Unacceptable Worship Is a Major Sin
The first, we've already seen this, is that it is a major sin. We sort of categorize our lives, don't we? I haven't committed adultery, I don't murder people, I don't take axes out and I don't, you know, bury it in their heads. I don't smoke crack.
I don't deal crack. I don't take crack. You know, we associate those things as being sort of the benchmark sin. Self-righteousness never really comes into the mix.
Pride or a lack of humility. Oh, we've just made our peace with those. Jerry Bridges calls these respectable sins. Somehow gossip and slander really isn't that bad in the church.
But if you deal crack, wow, that's terrible. Gossip and slander is enough to land a sinner in hell forever and ever. Never forget that. You know, we have our lives.
I'm a good businessman. I don't cheat people. I don't murder people. I don't commit, you know, I don't engage with, you know, sexual immorality.
What's our worship like? What's worship like? I mean, for the hour and a half that we meet here on a Sunday morning, you know, three-fourths of that, you're gone? Is that acceptable worship?
Would you find that acceptable? If you were a father talking to his son, and you're giving him a great lecture, or you're talking to him about something he should pay attention to, and three quarters of the time he's in space, would you say, boy, son, I'm just so pleased that you listened to me? No, you'd probably want to cuff him upside the head and say, pay attention. Pay attention.
Calvin says, few think that they pollute God and His name when they worship Him superstitiously or formally, as though they had to do with a child. You know what the root meaning of glory is? Heavy. God is heavy.
Not spatially, not mass-wise, He's not a child. He's not an equal. He is not in the same category of being that we are. It's not dog, man, angel, God.
God's in a separate category altogether. He's the Creator. We're the creature. We have much more in common with a dog.
We have much more affinity with a worm. We have much more that binds us with the leech. God is separate. God is, in the language of verse 14, a great king.
And I think Calvin is right. Few think that they pollute God and His name when they worship Him superstitiously or formally as though they had to do with a child. But we see that God Himself declares that the whole of religion is profane and that His name is shamefully polluted when men thus trifle with Him." Don't play games with God. You don't bring God down to your level.
You don't tame God. You don't domesticate God. You don't try to mold God. You don't try to form Him into something that you can't really relate to.
He is God and there is no other. Our task, our blessed privilege a la redemption is to come before this great God and to honor Him and to worship Him and to praise Him and to adore Him. That's the privilege of Christianity.
Unacceptable Worship Is a Deceptive Sin
A second implication is that it is a deceptive sin. It is a deceptive sin. We can't fall into it and not even realize that we have done so. Verses 6 and 7, in what way have we despised your name?
Stuart says, the priests knew the sacrificial laws by heart, as was required for their job. Ignorance was not the problem. God was not advising them of considerations that were not their thinking. Malachi, like all the Orthodox prophets, was not calling his audience to new standards, but back to old ones.
I hope you haven't learned anything tonight. I hope you're not going, wow, you mean I actually have to pay attention and try to honor God when I gather together? Of course you do. These people knew it as well.
And yet, down the road, going through the motions, they forgot what they were present for. They forgot the big picture. If I were to ask you, why do you go to church? If we were to ask that question to professing Christians all over Canada, what sort of answers do you think we might get?
You know what the number one answer ought to be? To worship God. I wonder if that would be the number one answer. Well, because I see my friends.
Not bad to see friends. There's good coffee at our church. Not bad to drink good coffee. In fact, it's bad not to drink good coffee.
What's the primary emphasis on the Lord's Day? It's to worship. Let that sink in. Let that ruminate in your soul.
Let that affect how you function, how you operate, how you orchestrate your life. You know, in order to honor the Lord, it probably helps to be awake. So perhaps, a good night of sleep on a Saturday. What do you mean?
I've got to reorganize my life? I'm not telling you what you need to do. I am telling you that if my son was getting a lecture and he dozed off, I'd probably wrap him one, not in the head because that would be bad, but I'd give him some sort of an encouragement to let him know that his sleeping while I'm speaking to him is not acceptable. You see, worship of the triune God is crucial.
Unacceptable Worship Is Concerned with Externals
A third implication. Again, we've already seen these, just going to flesh it out a little bit more. It is concerned with externals only. Verses 7 and 8.
We go through the motions, but we don't bring the heart. Remember Jesus' indictment of the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 23 and 24. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith." I always see in my mind's eye these men weighing out these little tiny seeds.
I think there's a cheese that has, I think, cumin on it, right? Gouda, they put some cumin seeds on there. You got a big wheel of gouda, and you got these little specks that look like fleas on the cheese. Go and enjoy your cheese tonight.
Those are tiny, aren't they? You know what tithe means? It means 10%. So you got however many pounds of these cumin seeds, or how many ounces, I don't know how you would deal with it, they gotta weigh these out into the little bags so that they can trot down to the temple and present their tithes.
Mint is very light, isn't it? It's leaves, or leaves. Anise, I'm guessing, is another type of seed. It escapes me currently.
But they're weighing these things out, but you have neglected the weightier matters of the law. You may bring the mint and the anise and the cumin, but you forgot justice and mercy and faith. This might translate into our particular situation. You tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, but during the week you don't ever think about justice.
You never ask God to stop abortionists. You never pray to God for the civil governments that try to rein in or hedge in evil and wickedness. Forget about mercy. You never do anything kind to a brother or sister.
Paul says, let us do well or let us do good to all the household of faith. And faith, the living, vibrant, breathing act, the vital religion, These things were neglected by the Pharisees, but boy, they had the mint and the anise and the cumin. See, it's not just the right place at the right time. It's the right place at the right time with the right disposition, the heart.
Again, I'm not saying throw out the elements, throw out the forms, just show up and we'll be led by the Spirit. That's the most terrifying thought ever. God has instituted specific elements that the New Covenant Church is to obey. And it's in doing that, praying that the Lord of the harvest or the Lord of the heavens and earth would fill our hearts with the Spirit and that we might engage properly.
Unacceptable Worship Provokes God's Wrath
And then fourthly and finally, it provokes the wrath of God. It provokes the wrath of God. Offer such sacrifices to your pagan governor. Verse 9, entreat the Lord that He may be gracious to us while this is being done by our hands.
Will He accept you favorably? Notice verse 10 to see this provocation of God. Verse 10, this is God through the prophets saying. You see, The original Hebrew didn't have the quotation marks, so the insertion of quotation marks is a judgment call on the part of the translators to try and figure out who's saying what.
I think they got it right here in verse 10. God, through the prophet, says, Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. You know what he says?
Is there one Israelite among the people there that will take a two by four, put it across the doorway to the temple, and nail it shut? That's what God says in this instance. Because when you come into the house of God and you forget the God who owns the house, when you neglect to give Him the honor and the glory and the adoration that is due, His most holy name, what is His response? Board up that house.
Don't even bother. Don't even go there. Who is there among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? So that you would not go through this sham?
So that you would not engage in this hypocrisy? It's better to shut the house of the Lord down than to continue to prostitute it by your waywardness. This is exactly what Jesus says in the book of Revelation. He will take the lampstand away.
Churches will not follow the Lord and obey his commandments. They can expect judgment from on high.
Application
In conclusion, we need to understand what the Bible says concerning God. James Montgomery Boyce said, to worship God, we must know who God is. But we cannot know who God is unless God first chooses to reveal Himself to us. God has done this in the Bible, which is why the Bible and teaching of the Bible need to be central in our worship.
Remember the Protestant Reformation. What was central in the churches of those days? It was the altar. The pulpit was off to the side.
The Mass was central. The Word was corollary. The Protestant Reformation, the fact that there's pulpits in the center place in a Protestant church is theologically driven. It's not just aesthetics, but it is theology.
It is communicating that central to our worship is the word of the living God. We don't put it off to the side. It's not a pep talk to encourage us along. It's not a ten-minute homily.
It's not some words of wisdom. It isn't, be the best you can be. It is the declaration of the entirety of God's Holy Word. Law, prophets, writings, and gospel.
Brethren, that is what we need in the church today, is good, sound theology that will drive, hopefully, good biblical worship. Secondly, if you followed what I said, 1.6 to 2.9 is an indictment primarily of the priests. So this, at least, gives us a good implication. A necessary one, I derive, the need for responsible leadership.
The need for men who are called by God, men who are recognized by Christ's Church, men who are ordained into office, and men who can preach the Bible and who know theology. Responsible leadership. Not men who can move the crowds, not men who can build massive buildings, not men who can shuck and jive like celebrities, but men who faithfully, 16 ounces to the pound, expound the Word of God and strive to do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
You know, the best thing you can pray for your pastors is that they would be faithful, that they would be men of the Word, that they would be students of the Word, that they would be students of those Puritans, and Reformers, and the Fathers, and the good theology that Christ has given to His Church through faithful teachers. That's the emphasis in Ephesians 4. The Lord Jesus ascends on high, He leads captivity captive and He gives gifts to men. In the context, that isn't tongue speaking and prophesying.
The gifts given to men in that context are men who are apostles, men who are prophets, men who are pastors, men who are teachers. And you know what Christ has done for 20 centuries? He's given those faithful men, not perfect men, not infallible men, but men who knew the Bible, men who knew theology. And it would be a fool today who would say, I don't need that.
That is to disregard the ascended Christ and his gifts given to his church. Pray that your pastors would be faithful men. And finally, The way to be a true worshipper is to be saved by grace through faith. There's no true worship.
No true worship from an unregenerate heart. No true worship from an unbeliever. Unbelievers may be in the right place. Unbelievers may sing the songs.
Unbelievers may go through the motions. But to duly and properly worship the Lord God Almighty, you must be born again. You must come to Christ. You must believe on the Lord Jesus.
You must come to the One alone who is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him. it is at the cross that we learn to worship our God. So come to the cross and worship your God and honor him the way he deserves. Well let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father we thank you for the word of God and we thank you for its clarity and for the continuing application of all Scripture for our lives. Help us in our church to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us not to simply go through motions, but God help us to bring not only good sacrifice, but to bring more importantly, our hearts. And we ask now that you would go with us and watch over us and bring us together again that we may praise and worship and glorify you.
We ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.